Residential Real Estate; Apartments for Sale. Games Included.

By RACHELLE GARBARINE

Published: November 8, 2002

A Manhattan developer is hoping to find an athletic buyer for a quadruplex apartment that would come with its own indoor basketball court, running track, swimming pool, steam room and sauna. Or three energetic buyers who could choose from seven projected layouts that would include some of those amenities.

The apartments could be created under one of several possible conversion plans that the developer, Time Equities, has for the nine-story building at 215 West 23rd Street, part of the former McBurney Y.M.C.A. complex. The building, which the Y will leave next month, is one of two connected structures that run to 24th Street from 23rd.

Time Equities plans to turn the 23rd Street building into a condominium. The apartments with their own athletic facilities would be carved from the top three floors, and would have approximately 6,125 to 20,515 square feet and cost an estimated $5 million to $12.5 million. A rooftop tennis court could also be built.

''Since the recreation spaces are there, we wanted to see if buyers would be interested in having them as private amenities'' in one-of-a-kind residences, said Roberta L. Axelrod, director of residential conversions at Time Equities.

To have that variation on the conversion plan work, ''We only need one buyer,'' she said.

That plan also calls for the lower floors to be divided into 13 apartments with about 775 to 2,680 square feet, priced from $540,000 to $2 million.

The 120-day test marketing campaign, which was approved by the state attorney general's office, began two months ago. While potential buyers have toured the three floors, there have been no takers so far, Ms. Axelrod said.

Time Equities bought the 23rd Street part of the Y.M.C.A. complex, built from 1904 through 1907, for $8.5 million in the fall of 2000. It will close on the deal next month when the Y.M.C.A. moves to its new home at 125 West 14th Street.

Two years ago the Y.M.C.A. also sold the second building for $9 million to Common Ground Community of Manhattan, a nonprofit group. The building, which is entered through 206 West 24th Street, once housed the Y's transient residences. In July the group began a $23 million transformation of the 24th Street building into 207 residences for homeless people and low-income single adults -- those earning up to $32,640 a year -- as well as teenagers at risk of becoming homeless.

Speaking of the Time Equities proposal for the top-floor units in its building, Ruth McCoy, executive vice president at the Brown Harris Stevens residential brokerage in Manhattan, said, ''There is definitely a certain group of buyers who like unusual apartments.''

Buyers in the past have asked about private pools and tennis courts, but not basketball courts, she said. She added that the larger, more expensive and more unusual residences get, the smaller the number of potential buyers.

Ms. Axelrod said other issues also made marketing the units difficult. Among them are that the Y.M.C.A. still occupies the space, and the apartments could not be completed or sold for one to two more years.

If no buyers emerge, she said, her company would tear out the recreational spaces -- they ''would not be cost-effective'' to keep as amenities for the building, she said -- and turn the structure into 26 apartments. Those units would have approximately 775 to 3,000 square feet and cost about $540,000 to $3 million.

Under either plan the 23rd Street building is to be separated from the 24th Street one, and each structure will be given its own mechanical system. Time Equities is also investigating the feasibility of creating a penthouse. The conversion architect is K Square Designs of Manhattan.

Ms. Axelrod said the building, with its terra cotta facade and arched windows, could be turned into ''interesting prewar residential spaces, not cookie-cutter apartments.''

For either conversion to proceed the developer must submit a condominium offering plan to the state attorney general's office, which would happen by the spring, Ms. Axelrod said. The city's department of buildings also must review either conversion plan.

Meanwhile, work continues at Common Ground's West 24th Street building, which varies in height from 9 to 10 stories. It includes enlarging the now partial 10th floor for some of the housing and a separate exercise room. Completion is set for the end of 2003.

Photos: The McBurney Y.M.C.A., a building at 215 West 23rd Street, is going condo, and the remaining sports facilities may be among the amenities. (Photographs by Ruby Washington/The New York Times)